Wild banana species are largely distributed in some tropical rainforests, wet evergreen forests to deciduous forests of low rain fall zones. The major centres for these wild bananas can be found from India to Indonesia.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean are little known. It is also a region where the wild bananas have not been explored systematically because it has received little attention from taxonomists.
The low lying Little Andaman has widespread rainforests. The island has a warm and humid tropical climate, with the temperature ranging from 18° to 35°C. It receives heavy rain fall from monsoons with the average annual rain fall ranging from 3000 to 3500 mm.
During explorations, L. J. Singh found a new species of banana and he named it
Musa indandamanensis, in honour of the island. The peel and pulp colour of the fruit becomes yellowish orange at maturity with a circa 3.5 centimeter long stalk and many seeds
[1].
[1] Singh: Musa indandamanensis L. J. Singh: A New Species (Musaceae) from the Bay Islands, India in Taiwania - 2014. Pdf here.
No comments:
Post a Comment